Prime Day 2021 USA: Who's winning search on Day 1?

Prime Day has arrived and with it a surge of traffic from deal hungry shoppers to Amazon. Bargains on TVs, laptops and coffee makers on Amazon’s deals page will be tempting. In the past, Amazon’s deals page has been the go-to for many Prime Day shoppers. But the retail festival also attracts many targeted shoppers focused on specific products and they will be heading to the search bar.    

On a typical day, almost two-thirds (64%) of clicks or more are on the top three products returned. Most shoppers will not look past the first page of results. Brands which have invested in key positions will benefit today from increased shopper traffic. Which are they?

This morning we analyzed search rankings of the most popular search terms in 5 major categories to see which brands are set to win big this Prime Day.

Consumer Electronics

Winners (Greatest average weighted share of search*)

“Bluetooth Speaker” - JBL
“Headphones” - Sennheiser
“Laptops” - Dell
“Security Camera” - Blink (Amazon)
“TV” - Sony

Vanzon held top position for “bluetooth speaker”, but it was JBL that had the greatest weighted share of search due to its third, fourth, sixth and ninth placed products.

The first-place brands for “headphones” and “laptops”, MuveAcoustics and Acer, also did not have the greatest share of search. Sennhesier and Dell were the most prominent brands as they both returned second and also further down results.

Amazon’s own Blink products returned first and third for “security cameras” and in between these two was also an Amazon product - its Ring Spotlight Camera.

Vizio ranked top for “TV” but on average weighted share of search it was not the most prominent brand. That prize went to Sony, which secured second, third and fourth place rankings.

Health and Beauty

Winners (Greatest average weighted share of search*)

“Hair Dryer” - Revlon
“Nail Polish” - Revlon
“Perfume” - Lollia
“Sunscreen” - Coppertone
“Vitamin D” - NatureWise

Revlon was the top performing brand for both “hair dryer” and “nail polish” on Prime Day. It placed first, second, nith and tenth for “hair dryer” far ahead of Hot Tools. It only placed once for “nail polish” but it was first place.

No brand returned more than once in the top 10 for “perfume”, so Lollia was the top brand as it topped the rankings. In contrast, Coppertone returned in half of the positions for the search term “sunscreen” including first and second, ahead of Cerave in third.

Awareness around Vitamin D deficiency has increased over the past 12 months. COVID-19 has exacerbated focus on health and wellness, though this category was already gaining share of wallet before the pandemic outbreak.

Amazon’s own 365 brand was top for the search term “Vitamin D” but NatureWise had a greater average weight share of search with its second and fifth positions.

Home Appliances

Winners (Greatest average weighted share of search*)

“Air Conditioner” - hOmelabs
“Air Fryer” - NuWave
“Blender” - Nutribullet
“Coffee Maker” - Cuisinart
“Vacuum Cleaner” - Hoover

For “air conditioner," hOmelabs controlled 50% of the top 10 but did not place higher than third. In spite of this, its weighted share of search was greater than that of Amazon’s own labels. The situation was similar for “coffee maker." Cusinart had 50% of the top 10 and was therefore the most prominent brand in the category

NuWave was the top returning brand for “air fryer” ahead of Bosenkitchen and GoWISE. Nutribullet and Hoover grabbed the top two positions for “blender” and “vacuum cleaner” respectively meaning that they were the most visible brands for these popular shopper search terms.

Home Improvement and Garden

Winners (Greatest average weighted share of search*)

“Air Compressor” - Craftsman
“Grill” - Traeger
“Lawn Mower” - Black & Decker
“Pressure Washer” - Sun Joe
“Tools” - DeWalt

Craftsman and Bostitch fought it out to be top brand for “air compressor”. Bostitch had second and third rankings. Craftsman with its first, fifth and seventh placements dominated the page.

Traeger led the way for the term “grill” with its combined grill/smokers claiming first and second. Black & Decker also put in a winning performance. The power tools giant topped search for the term “lawn mower” ahead of the American Lawn Mower Company. Black & Decker’s DeWalt Drill Combo Kits returned first and third for “tools”, sandwiching a Black + Decker branded kit.

Sun Joe’s SPX3000 Pressure Washer placed both first and third, making this product very visible to shoppers, boosted by a 20% off deal.

Sports and Outdoors

Winners (Greatest average weighted share of search*)

“Dumbbells” - Portzon
“Exercise Bikes” - Lanos
“Protein Powder” - Optimum Nutrition
“Smart Watch” - Rinsmola
“Yoga Mats” - Amazon Basics

For the 5 search terms we analyzed all the brands that placed in first position also had the greatest overall weighted share of search.

Portzon placed first for “dumbbells” and was only one of two brands to have more than one listing in the top 10, which meant it was the top performing brand.

It was a similar situation for “exercise bikes” where LABODI was the only brand to have more than one placement in the top ten but first placed Lanos had a greater share of search.

Rinsmola topped the results for “smart watch” ahead of more established brands like Fitbit and Garmin. Amazon’s own products were the most prominent for “yoga mats” where it took first and fifth place.

Optimum Nutrition had the most dominant performance for the search terms we analyzed in Health & Beauty. It had 40% of the top ten for “protein powder” including first and second position meaning it was far out in front of rivals Ancient Nutrition and Dymatize.

Target and Walmart try to crash Amazon's party

Amazon’s rivals have again been noisy this year with many launching competing sales events to challenge Prime Day.

The list of retailers that ran rival events is extensive but includes Bed Bath & Beyond, Best Buy, Grills, Target and Walmart.

Prime Day may be about Amazon but it has a halo effect for other retailers as bargain-hungry shoppers head online. We analysed 5 search terms across these retailers to see which brands performed best.

Winners (Greatest average weighted share of search*)

None of the retailers analyzed shared a top performing brand for the same search term. For “TV”, Samsung was the best performing brand on Best Buy, TCL on Target and Hisense on Walmart.

Revlon returned in first place on Bed, Bath & Beyond for “hair dryer” and had 60% of the top 10 on Walmart for the same term. This wasn’t enough for it to be the leading brand on Walmart as all these listings were outside the top three. Remington’s second and third place meant it had the greatest average weighted share of search.

All of the brands that finished first in each retailer for “coffee maker” were the most prominent brand. Hamilton Beach and Chefman only had that one first place listing on Target and Walmart respectively, while Ninja clearly was the most visible on Best Buy.

Char-Broil came in first on Lowe’s for “grill” returning first and third, while Weber’s second and fourth placements made it the most prominent brand on Target ahead of Kingsford.

There were some dominant performances for the term “smart watch”. Samsung had all of the top three on Best Buy; iTouch had first and second on Target while Apple had the same, and 50% of the top 10 on Walmart.

That’s it for Day 1 of Prime Day. Will things change on Day 2? Come back tomorrow, June 22, for more analysis based on the morning’s data.

 
*Weighted share of search is weighted so that products nearer the top of the search results are given a greater percentage share than results further down. The weighting is exponential for rankings from 1st to 10th